Bio

Brandon Hicks is an award-winning cartoonist and filmmaker from Saint John. A member of the National Cartoonist Society, his work has appeared in National Lampoon, CBC, The Manatee, American Bystander, Fangoria, and The Rumpus, where he serves as Comics Editor. He also has a regular illustrated feature for The Maritime Edit. He is the author of three books, one of which, “That’s Not True!,” being a humorous illustrated guide through New Brunswick intended to promote media literacy in children. His short films have played in festivals on three continents.

Residency Project

As a writer, illustrator, and video artist who came of age in the online era, I’m well aware of the changing media landscape, and the differing ways people are learning to communicate. I think comics are a wonderful format for expression and visual learning. In a time of immediate communication, comic storytelling forces one to stop and consider what it is that they are communicating. I believe it creates empathy and improves attention to detail. I would like to encourage kids to begin an illustrated diary. The specifics of what they wish to include could be up to them, but my roll would be to sit in for several sessions to help discuss the basics of visual storytelling, and helping decouple illustration from stifling expectations of art and skill level. In a sense, make drawing fun again, but retaining some educational purpose. Teaching myself to draw for myself, not for artistic approval, was one of the best gifts I could have given myself. I want to enable kids to be able to do the same for themselves.

Teaching Experience

I spent one summer as the summer reading coordinator for the Saint John Library in 2013, where I read, sang, and planned events and crafts for several age groups for the two-month work period. I also hosted a children’s comics workshop for Fog Lit Festival in 2015, and more recently for Festival Inspire in 2021.